


No Honor Amongst Thieves

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic 2019 [49]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, Case Fic, Gun Violence, M/M, Murder, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 09:02:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20273380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: LJ Comment Fic for 100 Words on Secrets:Any, any, "Two people can keep a secret--if one of them is dead."In which Danny and Steve are trying to find a killer.





	No Honor Amongst Thieves

**Author's Note:**

> Also written for H/C Bingo - bullet wounds

Danny looked dispassionately at the body lying at his feet, chest riddled with bullet holes. Garrett Nash, bandit and horse thief, had met an ignominious end. 

“Rage or inexperience?” Steve asked, squatting in the dust to take a closer look.

“Could be either, or both.”

“We’ll have to check with his associates, see if anyone knows anything.”

Danny snorted. “They won’t talk to us.”

He was wrong about that. Steve approached the ragtag group of miscreants full of concern for their safety, and when they found out how Nash died they immediately started pointing fingers. At each other.

“He got in a dust-up with Bill ‘bout that missin’ whisky.”

“No we didn’t neither! He was after Nils over that there saloon gal!”

“You leave Kelly outta this!”

Things quickly devolved as punches were thrown and the men started scrapping with each other.

“Sheriff, sir?”

Danny had forgotten all about the kid, still growing because he was all gangly arms and legs and didn’t have so much as a single hair on his face.

“Mr. Nash was workin’ a secret job.”

That stopped the squabbling right quick, and Nash’s men all turned to stare at the kid.

“I ain’t heard tell of any job,” Bill said dismissively.

The kid puffed up a little. “Cause he didn’t trust any of you.”

Bill make a move in the kid’s direction, but Steve stopped him with a hand to the chest and a withering glare.

“Do you know anything about the job?” Danny asked.

The kid shook his head. “No, sir. But I think he had partners. Said he was fixin’ to make some big money.”

Steve thanked the kid and slipped him some money for the information, but Danny pulled him aside.

“Listen, kid. You stay with these guys and your life won’t be worth a Confederate dollar. You want some real work, you come around the jail.”

The kid’s eyes were so wide Danny was worried they might fall right out of his head. “Thanks!”

Steve and Danny mounted up and headed back to town, and Steve waited till they were out of earshot of Nash’s men before teasing him.

“We adopting another kid, Danny?”

“Shut up. I’m just rewarding good manners, is all.”

No need to mention that Danny hoped someone would do a similar kindness to his brother Matthew if the situation ever arose.

*o*o*o*

Two days later another dead body turned up, this time a ranch hand that worked for the Chisolms. Ed Musgrave had been shot multiple times in the back. Danny stared at the wounds as Max, the undertaker, counted them; he kept detailed records of every death.

Nineteen. That’s how many lives Danny had ended with a well-placed bullet. Some had been deserving, others not, but Danny was always going to choose his own life above those of others. Except Grace’s. And Steve’s.

“Eight shots,” Max reported.

“Unlikely the shooter took the time to reload,” Steve mused.

“Two guns,” Danny said.

“Or two shooters.” Max sketched out a diagram of Musgrave’s back, noting where each bullet had punched through the skin.

“Shooting a man in the back is cowardly,” Danny said. “Or maybe the shooter was in a panic.”

“Musgrave is dead either way. Guess we’d better head over to the Chisolm ranch.”

Jack Chisolm was a big bear of a man, but he seemed sincerely distressed to hear about Musgrave’s demise.

“He was a good worker. Never had a problem with him. Fact is, I was planning on bumping up his pay and giving him more to do.”

“You ever see him hanging around with Garrett Nash?” Steve asked.

Chisolm looked offended. “That no-good thief? Ed wouldn’t have given him the time of day.”

Mrs. Chisolm wasn’t available for comment, having taken to her bed from the shock of Musgrave’s death. Which Danny found a bit suspicious. Why should the lady of the house have any feelings at all for a ranch hand? Unless she’d been cuckolding her husband.

“If she was, she’ll never admit to it,” Steve said.

There was nothing to do but head back to town and try to figure out the link between Musgrave and Nash.

*o*o*o*

No other bodies turned up after Musgrave’s, at least none riddled with bullets that they could connect to his death or Nash’s. Danny hated not knowing what those men had died for. It was an unsolved puzzle, and he knew it would nag at him.

“You know what they say,” Steve said, booted feet propped up on his desk. “Two people can keep a secret if one is dead. Or in this case, two.”

“That’s stupid,” Danny replied. 

But he knew it was true. And unless the guilty party confessed, there’d be no justice for Garrett Nash or Ed Musgraves. Assuming justice was deserved.

**Author's Note:**

> **AN:** Unfortunately, not every case gets solved. Especially back in the 1870s when they couldn’t rely on fingerprinting or DNA testing to help figure things out. Or maybe I was just lazy. LOL!


End file.
